NEWS PHOTO JAMES TUBB
Medicine Hat Tigers forward Noah Danielson fires a shot on net in the first period of the his team's Western Hockey League game against the Prince Albert Raiders on Friday night at Co-op Place.
jtubb@medicinehatnews.com
The Medicine Hat Tigers scored early and took control of their game Friday night against the Prince Albert Raiders, winning 6-2 and picking up their fourth win of the season.
Associate coach Joe Frazier said it was a nice change to have the lead heading into the third period and he said it was good to see how the young team learned to hold the an advantage.
“We’ve got some things to sharpen up with our puck management, especially in the third,” Frazier said. “When you have a lead you don’t want to let your foot off the gas… For the most part I thought we stuck to it and got pucks in behind their D and ran our forechecks, especially in the third.”
Both teams traded chances and odd-man rushes in the first before the Tigers opened the scoring less than 10 minutes into the period.
Oren Shtrom tapped in a rebound off Raider netminder Carter Serhyenko for his second of the year to get Medicine Hat on the board.
The Tigers would only hold the lead for a couple of minutes before the Raiders would tie it up at 1-1 off a Dallyn Peekeekoot goal 11:48 into the period.
Despite the back-and-forth chances, the two goals would be the only offence of the period as the Tigers ended frame ahead in the shot category 19-12.
Hayden Pakkala scored with a puck loose in front of Medicine Hat’s Beckett Langkow to break the tie for Prince Albert early in the second. The Tigers went on a 5-on-3 power play a few minutes later due to high sticking and delay of game penalties by the Raiders. After the first penalty expired, Oasiz Wiesblatt, playing against his brother Ozzy, tipped in a Daniel Baker point shot for his first goal of the season, tying the game up at two.
Wiesblatt said earlier in the week that he wanted to be the better brother in Friday nights matchup and he said after the game he was happy with the result and getting his first goal of the year.
“It’s always good to beat him and everything’s a competition, I’m happy,” Wiesblatt said. “It’s good to get the monkey off the back.”
He credits getting his first of the year to shaving his moustache on Thursday.
Medicine Hat started pouring it on after that, with Teague Patton scoring on another power play to put the Tigers ahead for the second time.
As they were still announcing Patton’s goal that Wiesblatt and Shtrom assisted, Steven Arp scored off the rush to grow Medicine Hat’s lead to 4-2. Arp’s goal, 13:24 into the second frame, was his first in the WHL.
Frazier said it was great to see the Tigers depth lines continue scoring and even better for Arp to get his first.
“He’s worked so hard off the ice and at practice to get quicker and find his way in the lineup,” Frazier said. “So to see him get that goal it was great for him”
The teams continued to trade chances into the third, when Corson Hopwo finished a tic-tac-toe play on the man advantage for his second goal of the game and season, to put the Tigers up 5-2 with 8:24 left in the frame.
Noah Danielson then re-directed a Lukas Svejkovsky point shot to add to their lead as time trickled down.
Prince Albert head coach Marc Habscheid said his team just didn’t compete enough in the loss.
“Especially our forwards. We compete, we pride ourselves on work ethic and competing and winning battles and just, our forward group does not do it… its been pretty consistent all year,” he said.
Langkow, in his third start of the season, stopped 44 of the 46 shots he faced in the game. He was in net for Medicine Hat last Saturday night when they lost to the Raiders 3-2 in a shootout. Langkow said it felt really good picking up the win and was happy to get one back from Prince Albert.
“We weren’t disappointed in our effort last weekend, we were just kind of mad we didn’t get two points there, Langkow said. “So to come out tonight and play the way we did was really good to see.”
He has gotten the Tigers a point in all three of his starts this season. Langkow said anytime he can get a win, it gives him confidence and he gets even more confidence the more he plays.
Serhyenko, stopped 22 of the 28 Tigers shots he met in his seventh start of the season for Prince Albert.
The Tigers hit the road Saturday as they head to Edmonton for a rematch with the Oil Kings. Medicine Hat beat Edmonton 3-2 in a shootout back on Oct. 9. Garin Bjorklund will be between the pipes for the Tigers Saturday night, as a large part of the Tigers roster acclimates themselves with Rogers Place in Edmonton for the first time.
Wiesblatt said he is looking forward to the trip to Edmonton and experiencing Rogers Place.
“We’re going to be buzzing, we’re going to be excited and we’re going to be ready.”
